Using the deeper pro plus sonar for feature finding
I’ve been using the deeper pro plus fish finder for a few weeks now, and I’ve found it very useful for feature finding, especially in very weedy areas where a marker float would struggle. You can find the areas between the weed that a lead or marker might skip over and miss. I would use this feature more than fish finding. even though it is marketed as a castable fish finder, It is also very handy when winter fishing. When the carp hold up in areas of the lake. Fish finders have been around a few years now, they were used a lot for ice fishing.
So what you get in the box as standard
You get the fish finder unit, a neoprene bag, two anchor bolts, USB charging lead, and manuals
You will need to download the app from play store for Android or for iPhone the app store.
Model | Connection | Depth | Weight | Frequency | Distance | Check Prices |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Deeper pro plus | Wifi | 19" -260ft | 3.5 oz | Wide 90kHz Narrow 250kHz | 100M | |
Wifi | 6"- 330ft | 3.2 oz | Wide 100kHz Medium 290kHz Narrow 675kHz | 100M | ||
How long does the deeper pro plus take to charge
The unit I have arrived with 27% charge but it only took a couple of hours to fully charge the device. Depending on the mode you use determines how long the battery lasts. When I used the onshore GPS mode the battery lasted about 3/4 hours. This was during cold Winter months though. The onshore GPS mode does use the battery quicker than the other available modes.
The GPS function is very useful so I would recommend the pro plus over the standard deeper pro and having a WiFi range of up to100m instead of Bluetooth which is the original deeper model means you can explore a lot more of the lake than before with just Bluetooth on the original deeper.
Deeper pro plus connection issues
You might find that it looses connection after you've cast it out. I've found making sure i turn the data off on my phone helps this as then the phone isn't trying to connect to the internet and the deeper at the same time.
Also I use my buckets to make sure the phone is up at high at possible that really does help with the connection issues. Also it makes it easy to read the phone if it's a little higher and closer to you especially with my poor eye sight!
How far can you cast a deeper sonar?
I've only managed to cast my castable fish finder 20 wraps with my spod rod, which i think is about 80yrds It's not the most aerodynamic thing to cast being a big round sphere!
The size is 2.5/6.5cm and weighing 3.5 oz which is 100 grams so not the easiest thing to cast. I just think the shape is the problem maybe in a future deeper they might make it a little more stream lined like a distance lead.
so i'm about 30 yards short of the maximum connection anyway which isn't to bad. The connection distance isn't really something that they can fix easily with wifi only have a working range of 100m which is pretty good for such a small device as some wifi routers only have a working range of 50mtrs.
New Update 2019 More flexibility and better security for your Deeper data
With a Deeper sonar you can create a huge, detailed record of every water you fish. From underwater contour maps to detailed scans, fishing notes to pins marking your favorite locations, you’ll have the tools and know-how to improve your fishing fast.
And now, with the latest update of the Deeper App, the data you produce using your Deeper will be both more secure and more easily accessible. That’s because deeper are now automatically synchronizing every scan, map and fishing note with their secure cloud server, so all your data is backed up.
- Access all your data on any Android or iOS device through the Deeper App.
- Now you can view your scans as well as your maps on any computer through Lakebook.
- Free up space on your smartphone without losing your scans – save your data in the Deeper cloud only.
- Got a new phone? Get all your existing scans on your new device.
When setting up the deeper pro plus, you have a few settings to try.
The basic settings that can be changed are the units depending on you want (Metric meters and Celsius) (Imperial ft and Fahrenheit) (Fathoms Ftm and Fahrenheit) or (Mixed ft and Celsius) I have mine on mixed so I have ft and temperature is C
Sonar mode
You have 4 to choose from, standard mode, ice fishing mode, boat mode and onshore GPS mode (pro plus only) the standard mode works in the same way as the onshore GPS mode, however, it doesn’t give you an overall map of the lake.
Looking at the image below (which is a screenshot from the app) you will see in the top left you have the choice of ‘detailed’ or ‘basic’. You also have the choice of fish icons showing on your screen or not. Turning off the fish icons gives you the better detail of the size of the fish opposed to having the fish icons showing which just gives you a default size. So effectively having the fish icons on you only benefit from a fish shape on the screen. You can change the frequency, on the fly, as you are getting the data back and there is a slider that adjusts the sensitivity. This determines the amount of detail that is displayed on your screen. Less sensitivity may be better placed for muddier waters to avoid picking up unnecessary feedback. It’s best to just play around with these settings to see what works best for you. In the onshore GPS mode, there is a tab showing the whole lake and how much of you’ve mapped.
The image shows the settings for more or less detail.
The image below is part of the lake I mapped.
The below image shows calendar and moon cycles.
The image below shows the tabs for the settings
Frequency
There are two frequencies to choose from, 90khz which gives a wider beam and 290khz which gives a narrower beam and makes it a little more accurate. I would use the wide beam if you were trying to locate fish and use the narrower beam for detailed lake bed mapping.
Screen Colour
You have a choice of screen colour, a classic, a day mode and a night mode. I’ve only used the classic mode, I’ve not tried it at night or in very strong sunlight yet!
Vertical mode.
I actually wasn’t sure what this was, as it is a default setting. Here is what I have found out about it.
In detailed mode on the deeper fish finder, a live image of the bottom structure and the fish directly below the transducers is displayed by using Amplitude Scope mode. A Vertical Flasher appears on the right side of the display in the Sonar View only. The Vertical Flasher plots the depth and intensity of a sonar return. The horizontal length of the plotted return indicates whether the return is weak or strong. I hope that helps!
As I’ve not used it at night yet I have this setting switched off. I will provide an update once I have tested it myself.
Depth Alarms.
You can set alarms for maximum depth and minimum so if it finds the depths in this setting it will sound an alarm. I’ve got mine off as the lake isn’t silly deep and you can keep an eye on the depths as you look at your phone/pad anyway.
Fish Finder Alarm.
Kinda self-explanatory really, if it comes across a fish it will sound an alarm on your device which makes this setting kinda exciting!
Fish finder depth.
This tells you the depth that this fish is detected and the depth from the sonar to the fish. An example is if the area is 12ft deep and the fish is at 8ft then it will be 4ft from the bottom, very handy for zigs!
Deeper Chirp Plus the new model for 2019
So now we have another model in the deeper rang called the deeper chirp + the CHIRP stands for Compressed High Intensity Radiated Pulse which means for us non scientists that the other deeper models uses a traditional single frequency pulse at a time. where the new deeper chirp model can send out low and high frequencies continuously which makes it a lot more accurate and are a lot clearer with a higher resolution.
Deeper chirp + target separation
Because the chirp can send out multiple frequency's it now means there is a target separation of only 1cm so you can pinpoint target species with greater accuracy.
Deeper Chirp Extreme Depths
Another difference with the chirp plus to the deeper pro plus is surface clutter noise is reduced, which helps with precise readings in the margins in shallow water as low as 6" from the surface, which is a lot less that the deeper pro plus that only worked in depths from 19". then down to depths 330ft compared to the + which worked down to depths of 260ft, which would be more than you'd ever need for carp fishing!
Deeper chirp + 3 Beam Frequencies for Versatility
The chirp has 3 bean frequencies compared to the deeper pro plus that has two with has a wide angle beam of 100kHz a mid bean of 290kHz and also a very detailed 675kHz narrow agle which gives you the high detail you need for understanding the bottom of the lake and what you'd be fishing over.
Charging times and battery life of the Deeper Chirp plus is the same from what i can find with the gps on about 4.5hrs and with the gps off about 6hrs run time.
Deeper Pro+ Accessories
There are a few accessories for them, they do an orange night fishing cap which would be also helpful in low light.
Deeper Universal Smartphone Mount for Fishing Rod Phone Holder, this is handy to have the phone in eye view while bringing in across the water.
Deeper pro plus videos
Here are a few videos that I’ve found helpful in understanding the how the feature and fish finding work
I hope you’ve found this deeper fish finder review helpful.